Banner Thunderbird Medical Center was honored as the “Hospital/Medical Center of the Year” for its recent expansion project and, particularly, how that project has enhanced care to pediatric and adult patients living in the West Valley.

The judges wrote that the expansion project is remarkable in its scope and economic impact.

“More importantly,” they wrote, “West Valley residents now have access to a level of care never before available in the region, particularly heart care, medical imaging services, surgical care and pediatric care.

As CEO of Banner Health’s Cardon Children’s Medical Center, Rhonda Anderson is the epitome of a “hands-on” CEO, judges noted. She makes it a priority every day to visit patients and their families to ensure that their stay at Cardon is as positive an experience as it can be.

Anderson was instrumental in the planning, development and construction of the $350 million facility that opened in 2009 on the Banner Desert Regional Medical Center campus in Mesa

As respiratory manager, Brian Shelley is responsible for a staff of 44 and the day-to-day operations of the cardiopulmonary department.

Shelley developed and wrote a computer program that tells the staff how many therapists will be needed and how many treatments each therapist will provide, brought the first neonatal mechanical ventilator into Del E. Webb’s nursery and created a peripherally inserted central catheter and central line insertion team.

ABOUT BANNER HEALTHHeadquartered in Phoenix, Banner Health is one of the largest, nonprofit health care systems in the country. The system owns or leases 23 acute-care hospitals, long-term care centers, outpatient surgery centers and an array of other services including family clinics, home care and hospice services, and a nursing registry. Banner Health is in seven states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada and Wyoming.